RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. – VSP Vision Care will release a new study tomorrow, which asserts VSP Vision Care helps save its customers nearly $3 billion annually on healthcare costs associated with the treatment of chronic diseases detectable via an eye examination.

The study was undertaken by Human Capital Management Services, Inc. (HCMS) on behalf of VSP and showed that VSP client companies are realizing these savings for the early detection of diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol, in the first year alone, directly related to health plan, disability and employee termination costs.

“Vision benefits are often seen as a non-core healthcare service, but the HCMS data shows vision care benefits help lower corporate providers’ long-term healthcare liabilities, with early detection of chronic diseases for employees,” said Rob Lynch, CEO of VSP. “Study data on the VSP Eye Health Management Program found that every dollar spent on VSP exam services resulted in a $0.94 recuperation of medical related costs that could be avoided.” Lynch first referred to the study, more details of which are being made available to the media this week, in his remarks during Vision Monday’s Global Leadership Summit in March.

HCMS’s study analyzed those costs for five major U.S. corporations—with a total of 90,000 employees—and found that the early disease detection that VSP Vision Care’s regular comprehensive eye exams offer saved companies and their employees money and valuable time. Specifically, companies save nearly $2,900 annually on medical related costs for each employee with diabetes, when the disease is detected early.

When the findings of the HCMS study are applied to the past three years for each of the five VSP Vision Care corporate clients who participated in the study, the results show that nearly 2,000 members received early treatment for diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension as a result of their annual eye exams. During that time, each of the five companies realized cost savings of at least $204,000 and as much as $968,000.

Of the 3.6 million VSP Vision Care members living with diabetes and hypertension who had an eye exam last year, over 25 percent received early treatment for their chronic disease as a result of their VSP eye doctor according to the HCMS study.

When the findings of the study are applied to VSP’s entire membership of 55,000,000 over a one year period, the results show that, of 1,457,500 people with diabetes, 20 percent (291,500) received early treatment as a result of their eye exam; and, of 2,186,250 people with hypertension, 30 percent (655,875) received early treatment as a result of their eye exam.

HCMS data also revealed that large VSP clients such as the U.S. Federal Government, which includes over 8 million employees, dependents and retirees, could save nearly $423 million annually in potential cost avoidance due to early detection through VSP’s Eye Health Management Program. “The research we've conducted, and translated into cost savings for companies, could help improve company financials for years to come," Lynch said.